NASA building a wider telescope than Hubble

On Thursday, NASA revealed its plans for building a new telescope that would be wider than that of Hubble’s. This can help them get a step closer to finding E.T and would also assist in getting hold of other mysteries of the universe.

Known as WFIRST or Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope, it would offer the same capabilities as Hubble’s telescope would offer after a full lens is put on it.

There would be a wide-field instrument which would help in capturing images with same quality and depth as Hubble, but would cover it with 100 times the field of view.

Heres-why-NASA-is-building-a-telescope-100x-more-powerful-than-Hubble

Apart from having a wide view, WFIRST would also feature a coronagraph that can help in blocking the glare from individual stars for not only better characterizing the planets, but also their atmosphere.

In a statement, Nikole Lewis from the Space Telescope Science Institute stated that it would be developing technology paving the way to find as well as characterize Earth-like planets in future.

The launch of WFIRST is expected to happen in 2024, and the space agency hopes that this telescope would help researchers in uncovering some mystery that surrounds the dark matter and dark energy. This telescope is also expected to discover some new galaxies and planets.

Not only would this telescope be used in spotting planets and galaxies far beyond what can be seen but can also help in tracking the location for developing a better understanding the universe’s expansion and also for revealing further insight into the dark matter.

Associate administrator and an astronaut at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate,John Grunsfeld stated that WFIRST has the potential of opening eyes to the wonders of the universe just like Hubble.